Jaide

Every site I come across says metro is an antibiotic. I didn't know it was available here so suggested furan as an alternative. Excellent! Great news to hear your fish is getting better Buddy! :bounce: You'll be pleased to know that Handsome is also getting better - the ich is disappearing and he's swimming around just fine It will take time to clear it out completely but he's in good spirits and recovering well :bounce:

You can buy tonic salt for fish from pet shops - you don't need to use sea salt. Be wary of American forums and what they suggest. If in doubt, have a chat to the fish expert in your LFS.

I have to laugh that you always refer to him as being big - Fluffy is twice his size! Well, he's going to get worse before he gets better - that's how Ich works, while he has the spots on his the meds don't work, they need to go through their cycle before the meds start to work, hopefully that will be only a day or two. The warm days and nights have increased the tank temp so that will help speed up the process too. He's still eating but he's not looking well either - he sits around a lot but still swims too - he's a tough wee boy who will pull through I'm sure I've also treated my community tank even though none of the fish in their are showing any signs of ich. As for Fluffy - well, I applied acriflavin both directly to the fungus on his head and to the tank - have since dosed up with furan2 and will do another treatment tomorrow. Although the fungus is staying at bay, it won't go away - it seems to fall off, so there's only a small spot left, then regrow again. Anyway, I think that due to this and his previous injuries, he'll never be what he was, if he lives. He'll just sit at the bottom occassionally swimming to the surface for a gulp as bettas do. He always was a percher but not to this extent. He's hungry when it's feeding time but he's hard to feed as he doesn't always see the food due to his blind left eye - I rain it down on him as best as I can but he only has a piece or two and that's it - it's very frustrating.

Hi ya Buddy! :bounce: Sorry to hear you're now having fish problems OK, I've done some digging and for your old male betta, aging symptoms are generally gradual, not sudden - i.e. colour change wouldn't be so quick, it would be gradual over time - as would all other old age symptoms. The fact that it happened in only a week says to me that he's not well and there's still life yet in the old boy Maybe he's stressed to be put in the tank with another male - after all, Fluffy was rather upset about Handsome being in with him - guppy breeder or not. In fact, I think being with another male betta was the trigger for all of Fluffy's problems. Is it possible to put him in his own tank or bowl until you move? Can you maybe purchase a cheapy on TM until then? More info on aging bettas here: http://www.nippyfish.net/agingbettas.html btw, the other fish in the tank looks a lot like Handsome As for bloat/dropsy symptoms, I found this: To treat Bloat, the plan of attack is: Metronidazole and water changes, water changes, water changes!! 1. Remove carbon/resins from filter. 2. Perform a 30-50% water change (reduces free-floating bacteria population) 3. Add salt (teaspoon to a tablespoon per gallon) to aid the fish's osmotic regulation processes. 4. Treat with 250mg/20gallons of Metronidazole (Flagyl) 5. Leave for 3 days and do not feed. 6. After 3 days, perform another large water change. 7. Replace the salt. 8. Add full dosage of Metronidazole. 9. Wait another 3 days. During this phase, the bloat should be decreasing in appearance. In large fish, the water may take on an ammonia odor from the high volume of urea the fish should now be producing due to reducing the bloat and recovering renal activity. 10. 3rd day, another water change. Also, replace the salt and redose the metronidazole (full dose). If the fish looks to be well on the road to recovery you can offer a small feeding each day. 11. Another water change on the 3rd day. No meds but, I'd recommend the salt. You should be clear now. This is the treatment I use on my africans, puffers, and my lungfishes/polypteridae. Knock on wood that it's worked every single time. Metronidazole is an antibiotic - try using furan2 instead. Good luck!

See my thread here with pics of a fungus I'm finding impossible to get rid of: http://www.fnzas.org.nz/fishroom/1-vt34 ... sc&start=0 Does the fungus look like the pics? I'm also having a job getting rid of it and it also comes and goes.

To report the listing, click on "report this listing" in the auction, choose any of the reasons why (it doesn't really matter which category as you can explain the reason in the "Details" field Breaching TM's terms and conditions seems the most fitting though. It's a shame these tank fads are coming to NZ - have recently heard of Peace Lilly vases which are not available here, thank god!

just saw them advertised on TM - they look rather small....

So if you've worked in SPCAs etc. - have you applied for jobs there? If so, what was the reason for not getting any? It's possible that you may need to get some qualifications behind you to work with animals.

I know Buddy It was only because they showed up under the red light that I could see them. On his mostly white body - they were impossible to see. I treated his tank with tonic last night and he seems to have perked up this morning - there's also melafix and tonic salt in his tank, so that should help too. I googled whitespot after I started this thread (actually, as soon as I saw the spots I knew what it was as I had been googling to find out the problem with my other betta, so have found out all sorts of fish diseases in my efforts to diagnose him), and it said to treat for a week as the parasites have a lifecycle as you've mentioned Stella. The tonic bottle doesn't say any of this I'll do a water change in a few days and will treat again. I only have a little bit of malachite green I purchased years ago - I don't know if I can buy it anymore. It won't be enough to treat the big community tank but could possibly use it in betta's tank? I'm out of formalin - again, not sure if I can still buy it. I couldn't buy acriflavin for the fungus problem with my other fish, someone happened to have some old stock otherwise I would have been stuck So, you don't think tonic will do the trick? It's supposed to cure whitespot. I have plenty to administer both tanks.

Just tonic for now. I had used melafix in the tank for new set up anyway and it didn't seem to help (so I was treating him without being aware)

My poor lovely Handsome boy has ich - I've just noticed this after I put him in his new tank and the red light I use in that tank showed the white spots up on his mainly white body. Poor wee boy has been poorly for a few days and I couldn't figure out why. Anyway, he came from a community tank (but is in his own tank now and have given him meds for ich) - none of the other fish in his tank show any signs of ich and aren't acting poorly at all - should I medicate the tank anyway?

We have wild rainbow lorrikeets here. Interesting that most fish people also have cats - as do I.

Amazing that you've done 300 posts and never once quoted someone Simply a matter of deleting what you don't need

Is the white patch on top of his head part of his normal colouring?

Finally found the answers on google - one is male and one is female, and they're doing a mating dance

I knew they're not killies, catfish or anabantoids. Amphibians was definitely out so took a stab at cichlids. I don't believe they're live bearers though :-? OK, so - what's the shimmy about? They're not boogeying down, I know that

I have a pair of silver dollars (only 2 in the tank) who go alongside each other and shimmy - a mating ritual?

That will be it - not enough plants in the tank to feed on nutrients, I will rectify that one right now - thanks all

I administered Acriflavin on Friday and my fish is sicker than ever. So it's not fungus. Must be hole in the head disease.

How do I measure phosphate levels?

Palmy has Pagani in the mall, you must be male

I don't think it's bodyslime, I've never seen it before. It's soft and fluffy bits floating around - very small, must be the fungus stuff on his head. So, is it normal for fungus to drop off and grow back? There's still a small white crater in his head where it will start regrowing.

Now I remember why I got rid of plants years ago, water was always green and I could never get rid of it. Aside from removing plants altogether (what's left that my silver dollars haven't chowed down on) how can I make the water clear again? Algae rid doesn't seem to be working. What plants will silver dollars NOT eat?

I managed to get some Acriflavin (thank you Chris) and have administered the tank. A question on fungus: does the filaments and most of the fungus drop off and then regrow again. When my fish was in the hospital tank, the fungus on his head dropped off and bits of it were floating around the tank (only stirred up from water change) so I scooped it out. Anyway, I notice the fluff on his head has dropped off again (just a small white patch in the hole of his head) and scooped out some of it last night when I made a water change. Is this normal fungus behaviour or could it be something else? :-?

Is that what you paid Hans, or what you're selling it to me for? I picked up the light today - she charged me $20 and had bought it new but never used it so it was still in brand new condition! I'm happy with that